Namespaces, W3C XML Schema (was Re: ANN: SAX Filters for NamespaceProcessing)

["Simon St.Laurent" <simonstl@simonstl.com>]

On 31 Jul 2001 17:27:14 +0100, Richard Tobin wrote:
> I understand your point, but there is still a clear distinction to
> be drawn:
> 
>  - Namespaces in XML defines how element and attribute names are
>    interpreted as referring to namespaces.  It specifies the
>    namespace (or no namespace) that a qualified element or attribute
>    name is in.
> 
>  - Given an element in no namespace, there are many ways a user can
>    interpret it.  XML Schema provides support for two different
>    interpretations.  It doesn't change the fact that the element
>    is in no namespace.

The second paragraph is a nice, even defensible interpretation of what
XML Schema does.  That interpretation doesn't acknowledge, however, that
W3C XML Schema's blessing of two different interpretations makes
difficult consistent application of the framework built by Namespaces in
XML.

Namespaces in XML provides a means of pinning down element and attribute
identifiers to avoid potential conflicts.  By blessing the use of
unqualified names within namespace-qualified contexts, W3C XML Schema
makes precise identification of those identifiers a much more complex
task.